First Place
by phoebe9509
Summary: Hotch and Morgan fight over Emily. Story for Romiross!


_This is for Romiross! Thanks love!_

"Stop it!" Emily snapped.

"No, you're not going in there!"

"The hell I'm not," she argued back as she started to head towards the door only to have his arms wrap around her waist and pull her back. "Get off of me!"

"Sit down and shut up. I already told you once that you're not going in there. It's too dangerous!"

"Oh gee I'm sorry are you my boss all of a sudden? I don't think so, so get the hell off of me, I'm going in there!" She argued as she tried to get back up only to be pushed back into her seat. "Derek I swear to God if you don't get away from me!"

"You are _not_ going in there!" He repeated for the third time.

"Trust me!"

"You lost that right a while ago Prentiss. You didn't trust me so now I don't trust you, it's as simple as that!"

"Fuck you!" Emily screamed at the dark skinned agent. "You _know_ why I did what I did and now you're going to use it against me?"

"Yes I am, so get over it and get back in the car before I throw you in there because we're going back to the BAU."

Emily had had enough of this so she got into the car and slammed the door shut behind her and drove off to the BAU leaving Morgan running after her as she left him where he stood. Emily pulled into the parking spot with such anger that she was surprised that she stopped before crashing into the wall. She knew she had to calm down before she got upstairs but nothing was helping. She knew what she had to do. Deciding not to take the elevator she ran up the stairs and burst through the glass doors then headed up the steps and barged right into Hotch's office.

Hotch raised his head at the sudden outburst and was shocked to see Emily so flustered. "Prentiss, what's wrong?" he asked quickly as he stood.

"It's Morgan…you need to talk to him…before I kill him." She exclaimed as she tried to get her emotions and breathing under control.

"What are you talking about?" Hotch looked out his window then turned back to Emily. "Where_ is_ Morgan?"

"I don't know. He's probably calling a cab or maybe he's running here."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Hotch asked suddenly with a quizzical look on his face.

"I left him when he wouldn't let me go into the house and interview Casey. He said it was too dangerous and all this other bullshit and he dragged me back to the car. I don't know what his problem is," she snarled, "but you need to do something about it before I do!"

Right as those words left her mouth Morgan barged in and glared at Emily. "You left me?" he barked. "You literally got in the car and drove off leaving me there because I wounded your ego?"

"Wounded my ego?" she echoed. "You practically threw me at the car and then told me you couldn't trust me to go in the house or ever trust me again! That wasn't my ego at all!"

"Enough!" Hotch's voice rang out through his office causing both agents to glare at each other in silence. "Prentiss head down to your desk and finish your files; I'd like to talk to Morgan." When he saw Emily look at him in disbelief he gave her a stern look and Emily let out a disgruntled sigh then left the office, slamming the door shut behind her leaving the two men alone.

"There is something wrong with her Hotch!" Morgan all but shouted.

"No there isn't. Now calm down," he instructed as he sat back down in his seat and Morgan plopped down on the couch. "You need to get over this. I understand that you're hurt because of what happened, but everyone else got past that once she returned. I have seen her trying to extend an olive branch to you several times over the last few months and you have blown her off. Prentiss is sorry and you need to get over it."

"Easy for you to say," Morgan started, "you don't even care about her."

"You have no idea what you're talking about," Hotch informed him.

Morgan stood back up and moved closer to the desk. "She 'died' and you acted like it was no big deal. Doyle was killed and Emily came back and you didn't even bat an eye. No hug, no smile, nothing! You walk around still calling her Prentiss and rarely ever Emily and you want to sit there and act like I have no idea what_ I'm_ talking about?"

With each passing sentence Hotch felt anger start to bubble up inside of him. "Whether or not you believe it, I care for her. You stand there and say that you care about her but you can't even forgive her for something she's done even though she has apologized profusely! Last time I checked you aren't perfect Morgan."

"Her apologizing has nothing to do with it man!" He took a deep breath then decided to let it all out. "Do you have any idea how it feels to be in love with someone and they just up and leave because they didn't trust you, and when they return all you want to do is protect them and keep them in your eye sight because you can't stand the thought of losing them again?"

Hotch stared at Morgan in disbelief. Was he saying what he thought he was saying? Was he in love with Emily? How the hell did he miss that? Of course he was always protective over her but he tended to be protective over everyone not just Emily. So his eyes locked onto Morgan's and he said the one thing that he knew was going to get him in trouble. "Yes, I do know how that feels," he confessed and he stared as Morgan's eyes widened.

"What?" Morgan asked and then realization came over him. "Oh." Hotch looked down at his desk as Morgan stared on. "But you don't even like her."

He let his eyes travel out the window and land on Emily as she worked at her desk and then he turned his gaze back to Morgan. "I'm really good at hiding my feelings," he whispered.

Rage started to come over Morgan and he glared at Hotch. "Just because you shared your feelings about her with me doesn't change anything. I don't plan on backing down when it comes to her. I want her and when I tell her how I feel she will choose me."

Hotch's mouth dropped open at his words before schooling his features. "Are you so sure about that?"

"Yes, she knows how much I care about her even when I treat her like I have been since she's returned. But you," he scoffed, "you've never been kind to her. If you tell her you have feelings for her she'll laugh at how ridiculous that sounds."

"I guess we'll have to see about that," Hotch replied in a stern tone. And as the two agents glared at each other Morgan finally gave up and stormed out of his office and down to his desk while Hotch watched on. Emily looked up when Morgan flew by her but neither agent said anything to one another. Then her eyes made their way up to Hotch's office and looked at him through the glass window and gave him a quizzical look. Hotch quickly looked away then sat back down much to Emily's displeasure.

As she sat there finishing her paperwork Emily began to feel even more frustrated than she did in the first place. Not only did Morgan not trust her, but then she tried to get Hotch to talk to him and clearly that didn't work because Morgan hadn't spoken a single word to her since he came out of Hotch's office. Emily signed her name on the last dotted line then gathered up her files before heading up to knock on Hotch's door.

"Come in."

Emily shut the door firmly behind her as she made her way over to his desk. "Here are the files from today," she informed him as she placed them on his desk then she took a seat.

"Thank you Prentiss," he started then tilted his head slightly to the side, "is everything okay?" he asked her when she sat down.

"I was wondering if you had talked to Morgan," she began as she started to pick her nails nervously. "I mean he hasn't spoken to me all day which in the end I guess is a good thing because earlier I was tempted to punch him in the face, but still I hate when people don't talk to me."

"I did," Hotch informed her. When Emily started at him clearly waiting for him to continue he cleared his throat, "Things should get back to normal shortly," he lied.

Emily bit her lip then nodded. "Okay, I mean, I don't know what I was expecting, but I guess I just wanted him not to hate me for so long." They sat in silence before Emily asked him the question that she had wanted to know the answer to for a while now. "Do _you _hate me?"

Hotch gazed at her with a questioning look. "Why would you think that?"

She shrugged slightly. "Well, you just don't seem to be too happy that I'm back that's all, and I always wondered whether or not you hated me because of what I did." Emily bowed her head and focused on destroying her nail.

"Prentiss," Hotch tried softly. When she didn't answer he tried again. "Emily," at her first name she looked up and met his gaze, "I don't hate you. I've never hated you. I could _never _hate you. We both know I'm not good at expressing my feelings but I'm glad you're back. I've missed you," he confessed and Emily couldn't help but smile.

"Really?" she had to ask.

"Really."

Just as Emily opened her mouth to say something else Morgan barged in and slammed the door shut behind him. "What the hell is this?" he demanded.

"Morgan," Hotch warned as he stood up.

The dark skinned agents' eyes burned holes into the older man and he couldn't help the rage he felt for him. "You really think you can just win her over? What do you plan on doing? Call her by her first name? Talk to her more? Have little get togethers? She's never going to pick you!" Morgan yelled.

"And what makes you think she would pick you? The fact that you won't let her go into someone's house for an interview considering the person wasn't even a suspect? Or maybe the fact that you haven't even said one kind word to her since she's returned? And for your information nothing was happening up here before you rudely interrupted. We were just talking!" Hotch shot back, anger lacing his tone.

Emily's eyes darted between the two men as they continued to argue. She tried her hardest to absorb everything they were saying to each other but the more she tried to catch on to what they were talking about other than her, the more lost she became. Both men were now shouting at each other at the same time, and Emily couldn't help but wonder what this was all about.

"I can't believe you would just rush in and tell her how you felt after our talk earlier. That's not how this is supposed to work!"

"I didn't tell her anything," Hotch corrected.

"Shut up!" Emily's voice cut through the two men's arguing and the room fell silent. Emily took a step back away from both of the guys. "What are you two talking about?" she asked quietly even though after their last two statements she was pretty sure she had an idea. When neither man spoke up Emily turned to Hotch, "Speak!" she demanded.

"It's nothing," Morgan interrupted causing Emily to turn her attention to him. "We're just having a little disagreement—"

"About me," she chimed in.

"Yes," Hotch finally spoke up. "About you and how we feel."

"Excuse me?" her eyes widened like saucers. Her mind raced every which way and as the words they used in their argument earlier came rushing back to her she realized something. "You guys are fighting _over_ me?" she asked slowly to which Hotch looked away and Morgan shrugged his shoulders and nodded.

"We thought—"

"Did you really think," she started as she backed away again, "that I would pick either of you after you both fought over me? So are you saying this is some sort of game?"

"What? No!" Hotch exclaimed as he came to the other side of his desk and moved closer to Emily. "That's not what this is at all."

"Am I supposed to be someone's prize?" Emily snarled out.

"No," Hotch continued to shake his head.

"In a way yes," Morgan interrupted, "if you just picked one of us it would make things so much easier."

Emily backed into the door and was dumbfounded by the whole situation. "You two are acting like children and fighting over someone who has free will and you want me to make this easier on you by choosing one of you?" Emily shook her head in disbelief. Her eyes darted from Morgan's face to Hotch's and she realized what she had to do. "You both are unbelievable. I'm _not _a game! You don't get to decide to both play me and then whoever plays the best gets the prize. I'm not a stuffed animal at a carnival!" she yelled. "But you want me to pick? I'll pick. I don't want either of you."

She turned to Morgan and scoffed, "You haven't said two nice words to me since I've been back, you've treated me like dirt and you said earlier today that you couldn't trust me anymore, so why would I pick you? How could that possibly benefit me?"

Her gaze then landed on Hotch, "And you, you don't even like me," she started and when she saw Hotch open his mouth to object she rushed on, "you tolerate me, and yes lately you have seemed to open up more and let me in but that doesn't make me think you like me. And the fact that you could actually stand there and expect me to choose between you two makes me realize that neither of you know me. If you did you would know that even if I did have feelings for either one of you, the fact that you expect me to pick one of you would make me realize that I could never be with you, because all I would be to you is a prize that you happened to win."

Morgan got a look of shame on his face and looked down while Hotch stared at Emily with sad eyes. "So I pick neither of you," Emily said softly as she looked at Hotch. "Maybe if you came to me and told me how you felt things would have been different, but you didn't. So I guess that's a loss for both of us," Emily looked down then shook her head in disappointment before walking out of the door, down the steps and through the glass door before either man could think of something to stop her.

Hotch turned towards Morgan and they stared at each other realizing their mistake. Emily Prentiss wasn't something they could win by playing some sort of game. She was so much more than that and as they stood there together they realized that they would never get to find out just how amazing she really was.


End file.
